Squinting hard, evangelical leader sees Donald Trump as the lesser evil

Penny Nance was one of the most outspoken evangelical critics of Donald Trump last December when the Republican presidential candidate first said he wanted to ban all Muslims from entering the United States.

Nance, the president of Concerned Women for America, argued then that “our Founding Fathers are spinning in their graves right now.” She said the ban was wrong but also expressed concern that at a time when “evangelical Christians are viewed less and less favorably,” any targeting of an entire religion was “a slippery slope” and could become a precedent for use against Christians themselves in the future.

Six weeks later, she was one of 10 female anti-abortion leaders to sign a letter urging Iowa Republicans to “support anyone but Donald Trump.” The letter said Trump “cannot be trusted” to appoint conservative judges and added, “as women, we are disgusted by Mr. Trump’s treatment of individuals, women, in particular.”

“America will only be a great nation when we have leaders of strong character who will defend both unborn children and the dignity of women,” Nance and the other women wrote. “We cannot trust Donald Trump to do either.”

But now, Nance is one of the chief organizers of a meeting next week between Trump and what she says will be 800 evangelical leaders and activists in New York City.

Nance is working with Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, and former presidential candidate Ben Carson, who has endorsed Trump, to convene the meeting. Trump will speak to the group and then take questions, Nance told Yahoo News. For some, it will be a moment to decide whether or not to support Trump, Nance said. Others will be deciding whether they can volunteer and try to persuade others to vote for Trump.

Though Nance noted in an interview with Yahoo News that she has “not endorsed Donald Trump at this point,” her new role is still a dramatic reversal for her.

She explained her change of heart not by defending Trump, but by arguing that presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is simply worse.

On the “dignity of women,” Nance said that Trump “still has work to do in gaining the support of American women, but I would strongly suggest that Hillary too has a complicated history with women.”

“She was part of the Clinton machine that demeaned and defamed victims of sexual harassment at the hands of her husband,” Nance said.

Nance continues to strongly disagree with Trump’s proposal to ban Muslims from the U.S.

“What I said all along was that was extremely short-sighted for Christians to say that, considering our values are becoming more out of fashion and our religion’s freedoms are being threatened. It’s extremely shortsighted,” Nance said. “But at the same time I want my country to be safe. After Orlando, we’ve got a problem.”

She admitted that Trump hadn’t said much about what he would do to stop terrorism. “I don’t know until he gets in there what all he can do,” she said. “But what we’re doing now isn’t working. I haven’t heard one thing Hillary has said to think she’s going to do any better.”

And as for Trump’s threats against public figures who have criticized or opposed him, and concerns that he would use government power to penalize or censure foes, Nance said she thought Clinton would do that too. “I think that should be a concern for Hillary Clinton as well and has been a problem for this administration,” she said, pointing to the controversy over the IRS targeting conservative nonprofit groups in 2013, which the Department of Justice chalked up to “mismanagement, poor judgment and institutional inertia.”

And even though Nance is now organizing the meeting between evangelicals and Trump, she was at pains to maintain a distance from him.

“I don’t think he’s our standard-bearer. I don’t labor under any illusion that he’s some bible-banging evangelical. I think I have very little in common with him,” Nance said.

But Trump’s list of judges that he said he would pick from to appoint a Supreme Court nominee, Nance said, gave her some assurances. Even so, her confidence that Trump would stay true to past promises was shaky.

“I think the more that we can do to get to know Donald Trump, to help him understand us, and hope that he is somewhat accountable to people he respects, I hope we can influence who he appoints to his administration,” she said.

Nance expressed admiration for evangelical leaders like Russell Moore, the head of the Southern Baptist’s public policy arm, who have steadfastly opposed Trump.

“I respect Russell Moore and certainly agree with much of what he says,” Nance said. “But again, there’s two options.”

“We only get to have one president. He’s got amazing power and authority, and we’ve got children and grandchildren to think about it. We can take our toys and go home, but Atlas is not ready to shrug,” she said, referencing Ayn Rand’s famous novel, “Atlas Shrugged.”

“We don’t have an island to retreat to,” she said.